Signing of Grant Agreements with Ethiopia: Contributing to a better living environment and improved access to education through power generation, water supply and secondary school facilities

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December 7, 2017

Signing of Grant Agreements with Ethiopia: Contributing to a better living environment and improved access to education through power generation, water supply and secondary school facilities

On December 6, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed grant agreements with the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa to provide grant aid of up to a total of 5.116 billion yen for three projects.

This cooperation will install a geothermal wellhead power plant, expand water supply facilities and provide secondary school facilities toward geothermal development and improving the water facility infrastructure and access to quality education under the Growth and Transformation Plan II initiative, the second national development plan of the Government of Ethiopia.

The three projects under the grant agreements that were signed are described below.
(1) The Project for Installation of Geothermal Wellhead Power System (1.842 billion yen)
(2) The Project for Improvement of Water Supply in Bahir Dar City (1.836 billion yen)
(3) The Project for Construction of Secondary Schools in Tigray Region (1.438 billion yen)

Details for the projects are provided below.
(1) The Project for Installation of Geothermal Wellhead Power System (total amount of aid: 1.842 billion yen)
(a) Objective and Summary
The project will install a small-scale mobile geothermal power plant (rated capacity: five megawatts) in Aluto-Langano, Oromia Regional State, where geothermal development is progressing, to achieve an early supply of geothermal electricity. It is expected that this will contribute to expanded and diversified power sources in Ethiopia.

(b) Background and Necessity
Ethiopia has the second largest population (99.39 million people, 2015) in Africa after Nigeria, and has maintained an economic growth rate of approximately 10 percent in recent years. Nevertheless, the country faces the challenge of securing a stable supply of power as the domestic electrification rate was merely 27% in 2014 (World Bank, 2016), and power outages occur frequently even in the electrified areas of the capital region. Because more than 90 percent of the power is generated by hydropower plants and the power supply falls below the demand during the dry season, the Government of Ethiopia has prioritized the development of geothermal power as a power source to provide a stable supply of power in the dry season.

The Aluto-Langano area in Oromia Regional State, located in the southern part of the country, has the highest priority for geothermal development due to factors such as the large amount of potential geothermal resources there. In the Forest Preservation Programme (2010–2016), grant aid, the Government of Japan drilled two test wells, and JICA is currently carrying out the Preparatory Survey for Aluto Langano Geothermal Power Generation Project, a preparatory survey with a view of constructing a large-scale geothermal power plant. While the demand for power is rising each year, the development of such a large-scale geothermal power plant requires a long period of time, and an early expansion in the power supply is needed.

(2) The Project for Improvement of Water Supply in Bahir Dar City (total amount of aid: 1.836 billion yen)
(a) Objective and Summary
The project will drill deep wells, expand the water distribution network, and construct reservoirs and other facilities to expand the water supply facilities in Bahir Dar City, Amhara Regional State, to increase the water supply there. The project is expected to provide safe water to the target region, reduce the number of people who contract waterborne illnesses, and lessen the labor required to haul water.

(b) Background and Necessity
Bahir Dar City, Amhara Regional State, located in the northwest part of Ethiopia, has developed in a remarkable way as a sightseeing area adjacent to Lake Tana, which is the source of the Blue Nile, and the urban population is expected to grow from 180,000 people in 2007 to 314,000 in 2017 (Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia). With such a rising population, the demand for water is expected to rise by 1.5 times between 2015 and 2025. The project target region faces the challenges of developing deep wells as new water sources and drafting water plans that take into account the difference in altitude, and the water supply infrastructure, particularly in the residential areas, has not kept pace with the rising need. As a result, some residents use water from Lake Tana or shallow well water, impacting residents such as in the occurrence of diseases, including diarrhea, believed to be caused by waterborne infection and having the highest incidence among the diseases observed in children five and younger. In addition, among households without water supply connections, women and children must often haul water from rivers, lakes, public taps and other sources, a labor burden on women and a factor impeding children from enrolling in schools. Because of these reasons, the water supply infrastructure needs to be expanded urgently.

[Basic project information]

Country

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Project title

The Project for Improvement of Water Supply in Bahir Dar City

Planned implementation period

53 months, including detailed design work and the bidding period

Executing agency

Bureau of Water, Irrigation and Energy Development, Amhara Regional State

(3) The Project for Construction of Secondary Schools in Tigray Region (total amount of aid: 1.438 billion yen)
(a) Objective and Summary
The project will construct new secondary school facilities and provide educational equipment in Tigray Regional State to improve the educational environment at secondary schools. It is expected that this will contribute to an improvement in access to and the quality of secondary education in the state.

(b) Background and Necessity
While the net enrollment ratio in primary schools (grades one to eight) has improved greatly to more than 90 percent in Ethiopia, the net enrollment ratio for secondary education (grades nine to 12) remains low at 21.0% (2014/15). In the Education Sector Development Plan V (2015/16–2019/20), the Government of Ethiopia analyzed the primary cause for low enrollment ratio in secondary education to be the pace of providing secondary educational facilities being too slow to meet demand, and prioritized facility expansion.

The conditions are similar in Tigray Regional State in the northern part of the country, where there is currently only one secondary educational facility for every 12 primary educational facilities despite a goal of one secondary educational facility for every 10 primary educational facilities. As a result, the secondary school net enrollment rate for lower years (nine and 10) was only 48.2 percent and for higher years (11 and 12), only 12.2 percent in 2014/15. In addition, the approximate average distance from students’ homes to the secondary educational facilities is 15 kilometers in Tigray Regional State, and new secondary educational facilities are needed urgently.